We are feeling the squeeze in California avocados as the season is coming to a close and inventory is extremely tight. Some growers are essentially done and we are bringing in all that we can. Prices have gone as high as $100 a case (that’s $4 a pound!) as supply becomes slim. Traceland out of Morro Bay in central California will be picking a small amount this week. Inventory is so light that we will not have any pre-conditioned avocados this week.

On the import side fruit out of Mexico is essentially non-existent. The Flora Loca, or first crop, is so light that almost none of the crop is making it to the west coast. We will see some Peruvian fruit this week but expect prices on avocados from all growing regions to remain high as fruit is limited and all areas of the country are pulling from the same areas. We anticipate that the avocado supply will be stay tight over the next 2-4 weeks.

We were thrilled to add Equal Exchange Fair Trade avocados to our program last year. Grown in Michoacán, Mexico this is the highest quality Mexican avocado we carry here at Earl’s. Expect to see it mid to late September. Overall avocado supplies should improve as we get into October. We hope to see some price relief in October/November as the Mexican volume ramps up. Stay tuned as this story develops!